What makes poetry, poetry?
Ask that question of a dozen poets, scholars or readers and you’ll get as many different answers, maybe more. Some won’t be much help: “Poetry is the sort of thing poets write,” Robert Frost is said to have said.
I’m sorry I asked.
If we struggle with poetry, this struggle to define it is partly to blame. It would be easier if poetry obeyed certain rules—if we could trust it to rhyme, or appear in lines or make sense.
Easier, maybe, but certainly less exciting: set a limit for what “counts” as poetry and poetry will defy that limit, out of necessity or spite. Critics who fume “that’s not poetry” today will tomorrow be laughed out of the room.
Maybe Frost was on to something, maybe we should be less concerned with defining what poetry is and more interested in understanding what it does.
Poetry awakens us to the aesthetic qualities of our language. Words are thoroughly weird. How is it that we have come to agree that these seemingly...

Editor's Note: The writer would like to clarify that the contents of this article were originally written several years ago for poetic purposes only. The following poem does not necessarily represent the thoughts, emotions or actions of the writer.
A flower in the snow, a flaw in the system. Struggling to stay alive, but have already lost the fight.
Falling to no end, it's useless to scream. Smiling through everything, to gain pain from spite.
Dark colors collide, my moon-pale skin. Hides self-made secrets, like beauty's poisoned lotus.
A stray cat flees, from signs of hope. My mood isn't rare, just unfortunately unnoticed.
The signs storms show, my internal divergence. Music's going to slow, never sounding the same.
Slowly losing interest, from an earthly place. Protect the silent destruction, and you become changed.
How can I find myself, when I was never whole. What kind of monster have I turned into now?
No one will dare come close, they have all given up. I am like...

On Nov. 22, the Akron Zoo kicked off their third annual holiday lights show, Wild Lights.
The lights show is separate from general zoo admission and will run 20 dates between Nov. 23 and Dec. 30 from 5-9 p.m.
Douglas Piekarz, President and CEO of the zoo, said he is excited about the 2018 program and hopes families will “come and share the holiday joy.”
According to the Akron Zoo’s website, pre-sale tickets for Akron Zoo members are $9 for adults, and tickets for children ages 2-14 are $6.
Presale tickets for Akron Zoo non-members are $12 for adults and $8 for children ages 2-14.
Pre-sale tickets are defined as tickets bought more than 24 hours in advance, according to the zoo's website.
For day-of purchases, tickets for members are $12 for adults and for children ages, 2-14 tickets are $9.
For non-members, tickets are $15 for adults, and $11 for children ages 2-14. Parking and shuttle fees are $3 at the gate.
The zoo’s website lists a packed schedule for the lights show....

The Champions of Magic, a magic show featuring five world-class illusionists, will be performing at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. as part of their 2018 international tour.
Tickets for the performance must be reserved in advance and can be purchased on Ticketmaster. Prices range from $30 to $100 with no listed discount for University of Akron students.
According to the UA events website, the performance “features original magic that can’t be seen anywhere else,” with several different acts from each illusionist.
Fernando Velasco, the escape artist with the Champions of Magic, said people should go to the show because it is unique from any other magic show in the world.
“There’s five different styles of magic,” Velasco said. “It’s just an absolutely crazy show and the production value is like very few in the world.”
“Incredible illusions with supercars, an impossible escape from Houdini’s water torture cell, a mind-blowing prediction that...

In time for the holiday season, the Myers School of Art at The University of Akron is once again featuring its annual Holiday Shop.
An affordable alternative to looking for a store-bought gift, shoppers will be able to purchase genuine, handcrafted gifts for friends, loved ones or even themselves while supporting the many student artists at UA.
The event also allows the public a chance to catch a glimpse of the student-made art showcased in the art school nestled on the edge of campus on East Exchange Street.
Gifts of all kinds created by students, faculty and staff of Myers, will be available for purchase.
Items include cards, ceramics, jewelry, journals, ornaments, paintings, prints and stationery, among other things, according to the art school.
The two-day event begins this Thursday and Friday with doors opening at 10:00 a.m. Shoppers will have until 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 5:00 p.m. Friday to browse the gifts for sale
The Holiday Shop, held in the Emily Davis Gallery at...

Sounds cascade my mind;
Through my ears they reach,
Music’s beauty is one of a kind.
Comfort in them I find,
The noise never bleak,
Sounds cascade my mind.
Skillfully written notes in line,
Illiterate I am to read,
Music’s beauty is one of a kind.
With words that are behind,
Feelings full of mystique;
Sounds cascade my mind.
This song impossibly confined,
Unable to envision minute three;
Music’s beauty is one of a kind.
Expressions made too refined,
Through things, my ears don’t see.
Sounds cascade my mind,
Music’s beauty is one of a kind.

In time for the holiday season, the Myers School of Art at The University of Akron is once again featuring its annual Holiday Shop.
An affordable alternative to looking for a store-bought gift, shoppers will be able to purchase genuine, handcrafted gifts for friends, loved ones or even themselves while supporting the many student artists at UA.
The event also allows the public a chance to catch a glimpse of the student-made art showcased in the art school nestled on the edge of campus on East Exchange Street.
Gifts of all kinds created by students, faculty and staff of Myers, will be available for purchase.
Items include cards, ceramics, jewelry, journals, ornaments, paintings, prints and stationery, among other things, according to the art school.
The two-day event begins this Thursday and Friday with doors opening at 10:00 a.m. Shoppers will have until 7:00 p.m. Thursday and 5:00 p.m. Friday to browse the gifts for sale
The Holiday Shop, held in the Emily Davis Gallery at...

Artist Elise Radzialowski takes inspiration from Grimm’s fairy tales in her works. The award-winning illustrator majoring in Painting and Drawing from The University of Akron reclaims fairytale imagery to tell stories of modern persons in sequential paintings, according to her biography.
“I use imagery found in fairy tales such as unexpected events, travelers and monsters in human form to narrate personal experiences and observations of isolation," Radzialowski said.
Her recent narrative work, 'Depression Introduces Itself,' depicts an adolescent girl lost in a forest of confusion. Though she is surrounded by shadowy souls, she is unseen by them and unable to communicate. A malevolent spirit of depression, a burnt monster, is the only one who can see her; desperate to be in communion with someone, she allows him to latch upon her, the artist described.
“While my work features young female protagonists, the true protagonist is the viewer,” Radzialowski said.
In...

What makes poetry, poetry?
Ask that question of a dozen poets, scholars or readers and you’ll get as many different answers, maybe more. Some won’t be much help: “Poetry is the sort of thing poets write,” Robert Frost is said to have said.
I’m sorry I asked.
If we struggle with poetry, this struggle to define it is partly to blame. It would be easier if poetry obeyed certain rules—if we could trust it to rhyme, or appear in lines or make sense.
Easier, maybe, but certainly less exciting: set a limit for what “counts” as poetry and poetry will defy that limit, out of necessity or spite. Critics who fume “that’s not poetry” today will tomorrow be laughed out of the room.
Maybe Frost was on to something, maybe we should be less concerned with defining what poetry is and more interested in understanding what it does.
Poetry awakens us to the aesthetic qualities of our language. Words are thoroughly weird. How is it that we have come to agree that these seemingly...

Editor's Note: The writer would like to clarify that the contents of this article were originally written several years ago for poetic purposes only. The following poem does not necessarily represent the thoughts, emotions or actions of the writer.
A flower in the snow, a flaw in the system. Struggling to stay alive, but have already lost the fight.
Falling to no end, it's useless to scream. Smiling through everything, to gain pain from spite.
Dark colors collide, my moon-pale skin. Hides self-made secrets, like beauty's poisoned lotus.
A stray cat flees, from signs of hope. My mood isn't rare, just unfortunately unnoticed.
The signs storms show, my internal divergence. Music's going to slow, never sounding the same.
Slowly losing interest, from an earthly place. Protect the silent destruction, and you become changed.
How can I find myself, when I was never whole. What kind of monster have I turned into now?
No one will dare come close, they have all given up. I am like...

Radio station 97.5 WONE hosted “Rock the Lock” on Friday, Sept. 7 from 6-10 p.m. at Lock 3, featuring Outside Voices and Zoso, the Ultimate Led Zeppelin Experience band.
According to WONE 97.5’s website, “Rock the Lock” is a part of Give Back Fridays, where the community hosts fundraisers during the day to support local charities. Admission was $5 at the door and all proceeds went to the charities.
Food and drinks were also available with part of the proceeds going to charities. Charities for the 2018 Give Back Fridays have yet to be announced.
In 2017, Give Back Fridays raised over $20,000 for local causes.
These programs include Project Grad, a program serving at-risk students in Akron; Cascade Community Development, a company helping local veterans; Students with a Goal, which mentors students in the Summit Lake area; and the One In Six Foundation, which is an organization researching prostate cancer.
Outside Voices took to the stage first as an opening band...

While playing one of her original songs, titled “Arrows,” Brenna Lynn stopped for a moment and thought about ways she could include her passion for music into her busy schedule as a college student.
“I’m in school, kind of grumbling about it at all times, doing everything I’m supposed to be doing; following directions with my nose in a book,” Lynn thought. “And all I want to do is play music.”
Putting her guitar down, Lynn told herself to break the rules and do something in life that she wants to do: create music while in school. After that moment, Lynn began researching the process of self-producing music.
Lynn recently performed at Akron’s Got Talent, which was hosted by ZPN, singing “Royals” by Lorde. As one of her musical inspirations, Lynn views Lorde as a powerful songwriter.
Nonetheless, Lynn prefers to write original lyrics and compose her own music because she feels her emotions and personality are then better expressed.
Lynn said she has been...

Two weeks ago on Oct. 26, “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” debuted on Netflix. This is a live-action version of the eight-issue comic published by Archie Horror in 2014.
This comic series is a spin-off from another comic by Archie Comics called “Sabrina the Teenage Witch” which ran from 1971 to 2009. Many people are probably familiar with the television adaptation of this comic which aired in 1996 and ran until 2003.
This Netflix Original Series is much more chilling than “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” with gory scenes and dark witchcraft present throughout. Luckily, Salem the beloved cat is still present as Sabrina’s “familiar.”
But, he doesn’t talk… yet.
The show focuses on teenage Sabrina, who is half-witch and half-mortal and must choose which life to follow once she turns 16, which is coincidentally on Halloween.
Sabrina lives with her two aunts, who are also witches, but she attends a regular high school where she has a boyfriend and many other friends....

*This article contains no spoilers*
Halloween may be over, but it’s not too late to watch “The Haunting of Hill House” on Netflix, a chilling tale of a family damaged by an elaborately haunted house.
At first glance, the show may not seem like anything unique. There are many movies where a family moves into a suspiciously underpriced house and lives (or doesn’t) to regret it. Before I started watching it, I thought that too.
I was expecting it to be an Amityville Horror-inspired show with a lot of jump scares. I soon realized that this was no ordinary horror.
Firstly, “The Haunting of Hill House” is not a straightforward, linear story. The whole season only takes place in a few days in the character's time, not including the many flashbacks the show depicts.
Nearly every episode has a different point-of-view. For instance, one episode is in the point-of-view of the middle sister, Theo. Then, another episode is in the point-of-view of the youngest brother,...

The Champions of Magic, a magic show featuring five world-class illusionists, will be performing at E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. as part of their 2018 international tour.
Tickets for the performance must be reserved in advance and can be purchased on Ticketmaster. Prices range from $30 to $100 with no listed discount for University of Akron students.
According to the UA events website, the performance “features original magic that can’t be seen anywhere else,” with several different acts from each illusionist.
Fernando Velasco, the escape artist with the Champions of Magic, said people should go to the show because it is unique from any other magic show in the world.
“There’s five different styles of magic,” Velasco said. “It’s just an absolutely crazy show and the production value is like very few in the world.”
“Incredible illusions with supercars, an impossible escape from Houdini’s water torture cell, a mind-blowing prediction that...

Presented by the LGBT Akron Arts Festival in association with the Millennial Theatre Project, "The Rocky Horror Show" is showing at the Akron Civic Theatre every night at 8 p.m. from Oct. 30 to Nov. 3 for the 25th-anniversary revival.
The Akron Civic Theatre’s Millennial Theatre Project aims to “bridge the gap between youth and adult community theater.”
According to the Akron Civic Theatre’s website, “This show is performed as a cabaret version, where the audience and the cast are on the beautiful Akron Civic Stage. Seating is limited.”
Cabaret refers to shows where the audience sits at tables, eating or drinking, while the cast performs the entertainment.
The theatre encourages audience members to attend in a costume of their favorite character from the show and to buy one of the $5 prop bags. Proceeds from the bag sales will benefit the Millennial Theatre Project and the LGBT Akron Arts Festival.
"The Rocky Horror Show" was first seen on Broadway in March 1975, presented...

The University of Akron Dance Company will be performing its Fall 2018 Dance Concert at 7:30 p.m. in the Kolbe Hall Daum Theatre on Nov. 15,16 and 17.
Tickets for this event can be purchased by calling 330-972-7895. General admission is $12, student admission is $6 and seniors, UA alumni, faculty and staff admission is $10.
According to the UADC website, the faculty choreographer is visiting professor Nick Carlisle with guest choreographers Holly Bass, Kaleb Reilly and Mary-Elizabeth Fenn.
The performance will include five total routines; “4 Women”, “Orientation”, “The Facade of Solitude”, “Exceptions” and “How Creativity Happens”, according to the performance highlights.
The first routine, "4 Women,” is choreographed by Carlisle, who said on the UADC website that the “dance is dedicated to my...

Forget Dancing with the Stars, The University of Akron’s Ballroom Dance team is hosting Dancing with the Professor’s on Monday, Apr. 9.
Eight professors with the most amount of nominations will be given a lesson by UA’s Ballroom Dance Club at the University!
“Our club has been talking about putting on this event for a couple of years. This is the semester we’ve finally decided to act on it, and hopefully, all goes well. The dancing will surely be worth it,” said Louis Orehek President of Akron’s Ballroom Dance Team.
Have a professor in mind? Be sure to nominate him or her before polls close on Thursday, Mar. 1 on this website.
Dancing with the Professors will be hosted on Mon, Apr. 9 from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. in UA’s Student Union Ballroom. Tickets will be sold in prior to this event for $5, or at the...

On Nov. 22, the Akron Zoo kicked off their third annual holiday lights show, Wild Lights.
The lights show is separate from general zoo admission and will run 20 dates between Nov. 23 and Dec. 30 from 5-9 p.m.
Douglas Piekarz, President and CEO of the zoo, said he is excited about the 2018 program and hopes families will “come and share the holiday joy.”
According to the Akron Zoo’s website, pre-sale tickets for Akron Zoo members are $9 for adults, and tickets for children ages 2-14 are $6.
Presale tickets for Akron Zoo non-members are $12 for adults and $8 for children ages 2-14.
Pre-sale tickets are defined as tickets bought more than 24 hours in advance, according to the zoo's website.
For day-of purchases, tickets for members are $12 for adults and for children ages, 2-14 tickets are $9.
For non-members, tickets are $15 for adults, and $11 for children ages 2-14. Parking and shuttle fees are $3 at the gate.
The zoo’s website lists a packed schedule for the lights show....

Starting on Nov. 23, Stan Hywet will be hosting their “Deck the Halls” event where on select nights, guests will be able to visit the grounds and view inside the manor house that will be decorated for the holiday season.
According to Stan Hywet's website, ticket prices for non-members on Sunday through Thursday are $18 for adults (ages 18+) and $7 for children (ages 6-17). Friday and Saturday ticket prices for non-members will be $22 for adults and $9 for children. College students with a valid student ID qualify for the youth rate.
The tickets are non-refundable and non-transferable. For information on member ticket prices, visit the Stan Hywet website.
The inside and outside of the estate will be illuminated with over one million lights, as well as an outdoor light show choreographed to three songs, the website said. The nightly tree lighting ceremony will begin at 5:30 p.m. with Santa, who will be available for pictures each night until around 8 p.m.
Guests will be able...